{"id":863387,"date":"2026-04-10T20:00:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/863387\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T20:00:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T20:00:33","slug":"bengals-reportedly-met-with-speedy-big-ten-wide-receiver-ahead-of-2026-nfl-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/863387\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals Reportedly Met With Speedy Big Ten Wide Receiver Ahead of 2026 NFL Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

The visit schedule\u00a0keeps\u00a0heating up\u00a0more and more<\/a>\u00a0for the Cincinnati Bengals ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.\u00a0Sports\u00a0Illustrated’s\u00a0Justin Melo\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0a visit with Oregon wide receiver Malik Benson.<\/p>\n

According to the Mock Draft\u00a0Database’s<\/a>\u00a0consensus big board, Benson is ranked 252nd overall as a late-round option for Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

Plenty Of Visits\"Oregon<\/p>\n

Oregon wide receiver Malik Benson speaks to reporters during Oregon Pro Day on March 17, 2026, at the Moshofsky Center in Eugene, Oregon. | Ben Lonergan\/The Register-Guard \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

“I\u00a0had a formal interview with the Dallas Cowboys at the NFL Combine. I had informals with probably 30 teams,”\u00a0Benson noted<\/a>\u00a0in his chat with Melo. “I met with everybody. It was fun talking ball with those coaches. We talked about my journey. I met with all 32 teams at the East-West Shrine Bowl. That was a great starting point to build relationships with these teams. By the\u00a0NFL\u00a0Combine, I already had some relationships in place.<\/p>\n

“I met with the Las Vegas Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, Washington Commanders, and\u00a0New York Giants\u00a0on\u00a0Zoom.\u00a0I had a workout with the Buffalo Bills. Their wide receivers coach and assistant GM came down here for a workout.\u00a0I met with the Cincinnati Bengals\u00a0as well.\u00a0I have a Zoom with the Kansas City Chiefs\u00a0as well.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0been a fun process, man.\u00a0I\u2019m soaking it all up.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0come a long way from JUCO, like you and I were talking about earlier. Not everyone goes from that to D-I or D-II, even.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0blessed to be in this position.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0trying to cherish these moments right now.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0going to keep doing what\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0doing by keeping the main thing the main thing.”<\/p>\n

The 6-foot, 189-pound burner posted a speedy 4.37 40-yard dash during the draft process and is coming off a WR1 performance during the 2025 Oregon season.<\/p>\n

Benson paced that team with 719 receiving yards (43 receptions, 16.7 yards per catch, and six touchdowns). He played in all 15 games (eight starts) along the\u00a0Ducks’\u00a0College Football Playoff run.<\/p>\n

He could be a great option for the Bengals with one of their four picks in the final two rounds. Cincinnati holds those selections from No. 189 and beyond. There are never too many wide receivers to keep trying out in a Joe Burrow-led passing offense.<\/p>\n

Check out\u00a0Melo’s\u00a0full chat with Benson here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign Up For Our DAILY Newsletter for More Free Coverage of the Cincinnati Bengals Delivered to You Directly<\/a><\/p>\n

For more on the Bengals,\u00a0subscribe to our YouTube Channel and be sure to check us out on your favorite audio platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Amazon. Make sure you\u00a0bookmark BengalsTalk.com\u00a0for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!\u00a0We’re\u00a0a one-stop shop for all things Cincinnati Bengals! Join the\u00a063,000+ Bengals fans who subscribe to us on YouTube.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The visit schedule\u00a0keeps\u00a0heating up\u00a0more and more\u00a0for the Cincinnati Bengals ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft.\u00a0Sports\u00a0Illustrated’s\u00a0Justin Melo\u00a0reported\u00a0a visit with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":863388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-863387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116382193285867657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}